Brighton Photographer Scott Hortop. Streets, landscapes, music, and the photography of people who inhabit these scenes.

Sunday, 21 December 2014

Can old prime lenses compete with new lens technology?

I have just bought a new Fujifilm X-E2 equipped with the Fujinon XF
18-55mm f2.8-4 zoom lens, a highly rated, all metal, image stabilised
but relatively compact piece of kit. I also just bought a £15 lens
adapter for Pentax K lenses on eBay to explore whether some of my old
manual focus Pentax primes could get decent or even comparable results.
And here is a test:

Here is a section, blown up to 100%, taken from a handheld shot at ISO 400 on a dull day, 1/320th sec at f4, with the Pentax M 50mm f1.7 prime.

Here is the equivalent, 1/400th sec at f4, with the Fujinon. Again it is handheld, but the Fujinon has the advantage of image stabalisation.

To me the Pentax is clearly sharper.

OK, I am not comparing like with like. One lens is stopped down. The other is a zoom lens at full aperture. But that second lens has the advantage of being 30 years younger, image stabilised and connected to a camera within which software corrects for some of its flaws.

I also had to interpolate the result from the Fujinon by 10% so that side by side they came out the same size. But that really does not cause other than the most minor variation.

The purpose of this comparison was not to make a detailed test, but to test whether the Pentax 50mm might be any good. And clearly it is. I already have a Pentax M 50mm f1.4 and a 35mm f2.0. Since conducting this test I have already bought a mint condition Pentax M 85mm f2.0 to give me a fast 130mm equivalent f2.0 prime. At wider angles, because of the 1.5 factor of magnification, I will be sticking with Fuji lenses, in fact I have already ordered the 14mm.

For completeness here is the original image and some corner shots blown up to 100%:

About Me

I'm a Brighton based professional photographer, at a crossroads on whether I really am that any more.. To earn a living in commercial photography I took unposed photos of real people doing stuff in real situations, that same skill helping me to be a dab hand at parties.

But now photography is less to do with making a living and more about art. Using the skills I acquired, I hit the streets and try and get as close as I can to my human subject without getting attacked. The landscape gets my attention too. And I shoot film - medium format and 35mm in an assortment of Pentax cameras, developing monochrome myself which keeps me rooted...

I also simply get out to take photos for stock. You'll find my images at Alamy, iStock and Getty Images. And at my own website - all linked from this page.

I have a dislike for corporate headshots, studio work, 'glamour', brown nosing and 4x4s. I'm also not particularly interested in equipment or techniques. Especially HDR, unless you can't tell it's there in your images in which case there's no need to mention it. Please.